History
Hedda Garland is the founder of School of Dogs. She started her career in Germany, as an elementary school teacher. After moving to Washington, DC in the ’90’s, she became increasingly interested in working with dogs and their owners.
Hedda attended the Canine Behavior and Training, Behavior Modification, and Advanced Behavior Studies academies at Peaceable Paws. She also completed a one year formal apprenticeship under Pat Miller at Peaceable Paws.
Training Philosophy
School of Dogs’ methods are based on positive reinforcement.
We use positive reinforcement to train your dog. Much of the time it means helping you train your dog, giving you the required tools your need to let your dog become a well adjusted companion.
Rewards other than treats can be toys, play or going for a walk. Treats can be anything that a dog desires: but small tidbits of food tend to work best with most dogs, especially when teaching new behaviors.
Services
School of Dogs offers Private Training, Group Training Classes, Workshops for Parents and Grandparents-to-be as well as Summer Camps and Training Classes for Kids.
Private Lessons
School of Dogs offers private lessons in your home and surrounding environment.
Good Manners Training, for puppies and adult dogs, teaches the general behaviors that we want our dogs to perform on cue, e.g. sit, down, come, wait, leave it, stay, give, polite greeting, polite leash walking.
Behavior modification training is also taken out of the home to parks, stores, traffic situations, etc. when modification protocols require this.
Behavior modification is an individually tailored program to help change an undesired or problem behavior, e.g. barking, digging, house soiling, resource guarding and others.
Classes & Workshops
Puppy Kindergarten
– The main focus of this class is socialization. Your puppy will have exposure to a wide variety of surfaces, noises, people and items in a controlled positive manner. We want your puppy to become a well adjusted adult dog and help prevent furture behavior problems. Every week we will cover a different of husbandry, safe nail clipping, teeth brushing, grooming, vet visits, brushing, dry toweling and ear cleaning. General puppy challenges will be discussed, house training, jumping, chewing etc. “Sit” and “Come” will be the basic manners and of course some supervised play time at the end of class.
C.L.A.S.S. – Canine Life and Social Skills
– This program was devoloped by the APDT and covers all basic manners your dog needs—sit, down, come, give, wait, stay etc. Each class covers the contents you need to help your dog earn a BA, MA or PhD in Canine Life and Social Skills. This program is exactly what your dog needs after Puppy Kindergarten.
Dog Training for Kids
– Kids will learn to teach their dogs some tricks, how to read dog body language and play some fun games. This class is a great bonding experience for your child and dog.
Dog Training Summer Camp for Kids
– Kids and their dogs will enjoy a week of tricks, games, agility and more.
Certifications
Hedda’s credentials include:
CPDT-KA – Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed
PMCT2 – Pat Miller Certified Trainer
Operation Socialization Certified Trainer
Certified C.L.A.S.S. Evaluator
Presenter of Dogs & Storks and Dog & Baby Connection
Specializations
Assistance Dogs and the support they can provide to children with Autism.
Dogs & Storks and Dog & Baby Connection. These programs helps parents and grandparents-to-be in their endeavor to prepare their dogs for the arrival and life with a new family member or to adjust to the new stages of baby’s develpment while including the dog in activities and keep everone safe.
Training Methods
Clicker Training
At School of Dogs, we are strong believers in the Clicker. It is small device that creates a “clicking” sound when pressed. For your dog it is simply the promise for a treat, for us it is a communication tool. You click the moment your dog displays the desired behavior which is then subsequently rewarded with a treat. This pairing of the properly timed click with the subsequent treat is a powerful tool.
Animal trainers have used positive reinforecement to train animals as diverse as whales, elephants, and chickens. We coach you to train your dog using positive reinforcement methods. The clicker is an option, not an obligation.
Customer Reviews
- Andree, Washington, D.C.
For weeks I have been reminiscing about our wonderful training sessions together telling anyone who would listen how much I learned. Thank you for your summary about what we had worked on. I have read it many times.
- Debra, Potomac, MD
Hedda, thanks so much for all your help with the CGC tests today! I really appreciate the way you give feedback to the testers, so they know what to keep working on.
You were the perfect tester, and you showed me why I wouldn’t be. You were patient and kind, and you taught while you tested. I had helped one other time with a CGC test, and it consisted of you pass, you fail, good-bye. So, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.
- Judy, Rockville, MD
Hi Debra, Hedda is GREAT … I really learned a lot!
- Becky, Rockville, MD
I really enjoyed it. Hedda is great – she was so good with the dogs (can really read them!) and the people! I didn’t know she specialized in assistance dogs! Thank you!
- Patty, Northstar
How wonderful to see Ben and Yogi working together! I’m very pleased with their progress as a North Star team, along with Hedda’s talent as a trainer to Yogi and teacher to Ben. Thanks for your excellent work with both these dogs, as well as with these families…
- Janet, Rockville, MD
We loved yesterday and thought you were great. I practiced today and was successful.
- Lesli, Washington, D.C.
Thanks so much for all your help. It’s really changed my relationship with Rocky!
- Maria, Potomac, MD
It was wonderful having you here to help out with Cooper’s “manners” or lack thereof!!
- Grace, 9 years old.
Thanks so much for helping me teach Gus. You are a great teacher.
Social Media Links
Follow @heddagarland
Media Appearances
